Of heritage, gyaan and quizzes

The following article was published by The New Indian Express on 19 July 2014:

Did you know that Mysore Pak was created by Kakasura Madappa? Several other quiz questions such as these were thrown at students from classes seven to nine from across the State at the INTACH India Heritage Quiz 2014.

The nation-wide contest was organised by The Indian National Trust for Art and Culture Heritage (INTACH) as part of its 30th anniversary celebrations, in collaboration with Xpress Minds Edutainment. It tested the students’ knowledge of Indian culture and heritage.

On Thursday, the Tamil Nadu zonal final was conducted at the Asian College of Journalism, Taramani, for students of nine schools. They were among the 150 students who were shortlisted from 40 schools in Puducherry, Ooty, Kodaikanal, Salem, Madurai, Tiruchy, Coimbatore and Chennai.

The winner, an all-girls team comprising Adithya Sivasankar and G Prashanthi from Sri Akilandeswari Vidyalaya, Tiruchy, was selected to participate in the National finals to be held in New Delhi.

Sarayu S from INTACH, said that quiz contests like these were designed to give the right exposure and motivate students to know about heritage.

“Heritage is more about the way we think. We all need to ponder along the lines of what our workplace or home would have been before. This gives a whole new perspective, and would interest kids. When they are tuned to think this way, conducting quizzes will further help them to be on track,” she said.

The organisation has also created heritage clubs in schools, where periodic activities such as presentations and role plays are conducted to enhance the students’ knowledge.